Thermostatic water control



March 8, 1949. l AQ PLETT n Y* THERMOSTATIC WATER CONTROL Filed June 7,1946 Y J @$13. i

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z/zzemt Patented Mar. 8, 1949 UNITED STATES' PATENT OFFICE THERMosTA'rIoWATER CONTROL Abe Plett, Inman, Kans. Application .nine 7, 1946, serialNo. 674,979

This invention relates to hot and cold watermixing valves, and moreparticularly to a thermostatically controlled mixing valve.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved hotand cold water-mixing valve of very simple construction which is easy toadjust and which is reliable in operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved hot and coldwater-mixing valve which may be adjusted to obtain a substantial rangeof resultant mixture temperatures, the adjusted temperature beingaccurately maintained by thermostatic means in the valve, said valvebeing very rugged in construction and being relatively inexpensive tomanufacture.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom the following description and claims, and from the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a mixing valve constructed inaccordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the valve of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the valve of Figure 1 with thefront cover panel removed.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional detail view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, II designates a water-mixing housing, saidhousing being preferably in the form of a rectangular box having aremovable front cover plate I2 which is normally secured to a frontperipheral flange I3 formed at the front edge of housing I I, a suitablegasket I4 being interposed between the cover plate and the ange toprovide a water-tight joint.

Provided in the bottom wall of housing II is a hot water inlet conduitI5 and a cold water inlet conduit I6. Rotatively mounted in hot waterconduit I5 is a butterfly valve I1 and rotatively mounted in cold waterconduit I6 is a similar butterfly valve I8. Valve I1 is provided with anactuating arm I9 which is connected by a link 20 to one end of a levermember 2|. Valve I8 is provided with a similar actuating arm 22connected by a link 23 to the other end of lever 2|. Lever 2| ispivotally connected at its center to a vertical supporting post 24secured to the bottom wall of housing II.

Secured in housing II above lever 2| are a plurality of verticallyspaced horizontal baflle plates, there being preferably three bailleplates 25, 26 and 21. Pivotally secured to lever 2| adjacent link 20 isan upwardly extending link member 28 which passes through a largeopening 1 claim. (onzas- 12) 29 formed in plate 25, and small openingformed in plate 26, and a large opening 30 formed in the top bailleplate 21. A large opening 3| is provided in the intermediate plate 26,said opening 3| being displaced laterally a substantial distance withrespect to the openings 29 and 3l).

Pivotally supported on the top surface of baille plate 21 is anupstanding arm 32 formed at its top end with a U-shaped element 33.Secured rigidly to the intermediate portion of arm 32 is a laterallyextending bracket member 34. Connected to the end of bracket member 34is the inner end of a spiral bimetallic spring 35. The outer end ofspring 35 is pivotally connected to the top end of link member 28.Overlying bimetallic spring 35 is a partition member 36 which is rigidlysecured to the top baille plate 21. The water from the respective hotand cold inlet conduits I5 and I6 is mixed, while passing upwardlythrough the openings 29, 3| and 30 in the baille plates and the mixedwater is guided over the thermostatic spring 35 by the guiding partition36. An outlet conduit 31 is provided in the top wall of housing fordistributing the mixed water to its desired destination.

Rotatively supported in cover plate I2 in a rubber or other suitablesubstantially water-tight bushing 38 is a shaft member 39 carrying atit-s inner` end an eccentric disc 4|) which is slidably received withinU-shaped element 33. To the outer end of shaft member 39 is secured aknob 4| provided with a pointer 42. The outer face of cover plate I2 issuitably calibrated in degrees `of temperature adjacent pointer 42. Apair of stop pins 43, 43 limit rotation of pointer 42 to the range denedby the calibration markings.

In the position of the elements shown in the drawings the butteriiyvalves are set in respective positions Where the highest value of Watermixture temperature will be obtained at -outlet conduit 31. Bimetallicspring 35 is arranged to maintain the resultant temperature valuesubstantially constant, since if the temperature drops, the spiral willVcontract and rotate lever 2| in a direction tending to open hot watervalve I1 and close cold water valve I8. A reverse action occurs if themixed Water temperature uses substantially above the calibratedtemperature indicated by pointer 42.

When knob 4| is rotated to lower temperature values, eccentric disc 40rotates arm 32, and at the same time rotates spring 35 and moves linkmember 28 to rotate lever 2| to adjust the butterfly valves to newpositions wherein the required proportions of hot and cold water to ob-3 tain the desired mixture temperatures are obtained. Thermostaticspring 35 will readjust the buttery valves Il and I8 as required t0maintain the water mixture at the designated temperature.

While a specific embodiment of a thermostatic water-mixing valve hasbeen disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood thatvarious modiiications within the spirit of the invention may occur tothose skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that no limitationsbe placed on the invention other than as dened by the scope of theappended claim.

What is claimed is:

In a thermostatically-controlled water-mixing valve including a housing,a hot water inlet tting and a cold water inlet tting in one end of saidhousing, a mixed water outlet tting in the opposite end of said housing,a respective valve in each inlet fitting, valve-operating meanspivotally mounted on said housing operative to oppositely actuate saidvalves to control the proportion of hot and cold water admitted to saidhousing, a thermostat in said housing operative- 1y connected to saidvalve-operating means, and 25 4 thermostat-adjusting means extendingthrough one wall of the housing, a plurality of apertured, spaced-apartbatlies extending transversely of said housingr between said inletttings and said thermostat, a guiding partition mounted on the bafiieadjacent said thermostat and overlying said thermostat to direct watertherearound, and a thermostat-supporting arm pivotally mounted upon saidthermostat adjacent baille and operatively connected with saidthermostat-adjusting means.

ABE PLETT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 921,308 Swan May 11, 19091,820,145 Liaset Aug. 25, 1931 1,943,705 Trubert Jan. 16, 1934 1,989,909Boydston Feb. 5, 1935 2,127,162 Beauregard Aug. 16, 1938 2,241,302Gaskill May 6, 1941

